From: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org (ecto-digest) To: ecto-digest@smoe.org Subject: ecto-digest V4 #314 Reply-To: ecto@smoe.org Sender: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-ecto-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk ecto-digest Thursday, September 10 1998 Volume 04 : Number 314 Today's Subjects: ----------------- Re: Happy [JavaHo@aol.com] LONG POST: Eric and Bonnie (and Sarah too) ["Bill" ] ERRATA: LONG POST: Eric and Bonnie (and Sarah too) ["Bill" ] Re: a different view on Happy [Joseph Zitt ] Re: Happy Then and Now [Joseph Zitt ] Happy Happy Joy Joy [Old Spice ] to culebra ["J." Wermont ] Ectoparty in Dortmund, Germany ["Klaus Kluge" ] update ["Klaus Kluge" ] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 18:43:56 EDT From: JavaHo@aol.com Subject: Re: Happy Joyce decides: << OK, you convinced me to give a listen to some of her other music before closing the door all the way. It's true that Rhodesongs didn't inspire me to hear any more. (I also tend to respond more to guitar than electronics, and several songs on Rhodesongs are played on guitar - so I figured if I wasn't responding to those, I would do even worse with the more keyboard-oriented stuff.) But "hiding her light under a bushel?" OK, I have to check it out now. :) >> Although RhodeSongs has spent a lot of time in my changer, I think that maybe the missed emotion is due to something that may have been touched on but not fully explored here. There are certainly songs I relate to emotionally either musically or lyrically, but I think the mood is often set by an entire album. Some albums can take you through a range of emotion, but there is a common thread or mood that one associates with the grouping that really cements the feeling. Because RS is a compilation of recordings from different periods, it serves as a wonderful sampler and a very nice mix release for those who like a little variety. It kind of jumps around, though, and that can make it difficult for one to sustain a mood long enough to bring about an emotional response. By contrast, The Keep, which is also a collection of songs from different periods in Happy's career, is primarily performed with vocal and acoustic guitar. When I first heard it, I didn't immediately identify with one particular song, but the album certainly had an impact on me. It took many listenings for me to begin discovering each song as a separate entity, but I was so moved by the feeling of the collection that I couldn't help but listen over and over. Warpaint (especially the song "Lay Me Down") and Equipoise (with the very intense and not often mentioned "Closer") also have strong "personalities", and I play them when I am in very specific moods. I have never warmed to Building The Colossus like others have, and it has taken me a while to warm to Many Worlds. It took many listenings for me to connect emotionally, but I now am moved by "Looking Over Cliffs" and "Winter" especially. Perhaps this is because of my preference for acoustic instruments over electronics and I just miss the acoustic guitar that I relate so closely with my favourite Happy songs. I was thinking about albums by other artists which I relate to emotionally for one reason or another, and I find that they are all of the type that have a common feeling from song to song: Avalon by Roxy Music A Trick of the Tail by Genesis the first Peter Gabriel solo album When I Was A Boy by Jane Siberry Pirates by Rickie Lee Jones Bridge of Sighs by Robin Trower (ok, this is admittedly non-ecto, but hey...) Close to the Edge by Yes Animals by Pink Floyd (or almost anything they put out) Eponymous Suzanne Vega Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos (duh) ...and the list goes on. I guess I'm just hoping that Joyce doesn't give up on Happy. She has many different albums that different people on the list do or don't connect with. Surely there is one that will strike a chord...:) Happy listening...Java ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 16:25:56 -0700 From: "Bill" Subject: LONG POST: Eric and Bonnie (and Sarah too) Fate is the hunter; so wrote Ernest K. Gann. And, the Lord works in mysterious ways; or so they say. Yesterday evening I had planned to be concert-going with my ecto-buddy Jill, to see Over The Rhine opening for Cowboy Junkies. But, as fate would have it, two major airlines went on strike just in time for the Labor Day holiday travel, hence leaving me holding a "non-revenue" airline ticket useless in travel value at a time when the air carriers were selling (and filling) more seats than their airplanes actually could hold. So, instead of family-oriented Cincinnati, Tuesday evening found me still at home, sulking over a Heart Attack special (cheeseburger, fries, Coke) at Boomer's. Just as I found comfort in chewing overcooked dead cow flesh, a text message showed up on my pager, heralding the unmistakable hyper-excitedness of my wife Maxine: "Honey! Honey! We have tickets to go see Bonnie Raitt and Eric Clapton! Pick me up at work in one hour!". Wow. Bonnie Raitt, the Goddess. Eric Clapton, the Legend. Ninety minutes and a few marital logistics problems later we were in queue at the Will Call window of the G.M. Place in balmy Vancouver, British Columbia. Following a lengthy wait at the Will Call window (the person in front of us wasn't quite sure what his name was) we were finally heading down section 118, looking for row 8. As we settled into our seats Bonnie was putting on the final touches to what turned out to be the last song of her set, her silky-smooth voice playing out a poignant ballad as only she can do. And there was no encore. Or perhaps that was the encore. As we took in the last few chords of her last song, we zoomed in on one of Bonnie's back-up vocalists, a certain woman known for her work in summer-time all-estrogen music festivals, a certain Sarah McLachlan. Talk about a short commute to the office. Then there was the customary arm-in-arm bow, and then there was an intermission while the stage was morphing in order to accommodate the next artist. Eventually Mr. Eric Clapton and his latest band took the stage. A second guitarist, sometimes a third one, a bassist, two separate keyboardists, a drummer, three female back-up vocalists, and the un-bearded, eyeglass-wearing man himself made up the band. First came the tunes done with electric guitar and standing-up musicians, then came tunes done sitting down and on acoustic guitars, and then returned the standing-up, all-electric-instruments tunes, including a hard-core rock-n-roll encore. The play list included all-time favorites such as "Cocaine" and "Layla", also something from the soundtrack of the movie "Rush", a few selections from his latest album, "Pilgrim", and a few other tunes whose title I am either too young or too un-hip to know. The set also included my favorite Clapton song, "Tears In Heaven". As rumor has it, Mr. Clapton wrote "Tears In Heaven" in homage to his deceased infant son, whom escaped his nanny's watchful eye and ventured off into the outer deck of Eric's penthouse apartment, only to slip through the guard-fence and fall to his death on the ground below. Whether this story is fact or fiction, the emotions radiating as he plays this song can only be the emotions of a man who is a prisoner of his own pain. Witnessing the performance of this song alone made the $80 ticket price worth it (well, had we had to pay for it). But Eric was not the only entertainer on stage: There was nifty solo guitar work by the second guitarist; there was all-finger duet work by the bassist; one of the keyboardists did fine lickety-lick work on a Hammond B3-looking console, which we were able to appreciate up and close thanks to the closed-circuit TV screen hanging above us; the other keyboardist did a lead solo on his virtual analog synthesizer with much "string" picking and pitch-wheel bending. And, one of the back-up vocalist did a a melismatic solo realization which practically blew the barn doors off the G.M. Place; I can only compare such virtuoso singing with the work of Clare Torry in Pink F As the incandescent lights came on in the venue following the band's single-tune encore, we ourselves were blessed with the white-blue light of the Icing On The Cake gods, for we pulled out the "AFTER THE SHOW ONLY" stickers that came with our tickets, and started wondering just how does one get backstage at this place. Yes, indeed, our complimentary tickets included back-stage passes, and so we and a few other groupie souls gathered together wondering just what was to happen next. A seemingly long wait and a few misinformed ushers later we were being led to the venue's Press Room, where we would apparently have the opportunity to meet the band. Eventually some band members started trickling in. We had the opportunity to chat with one of the back-up vocalists, "China" (?) about her upcoming Reggae solo album; we then chatted with one of the keyboard players, "Tim", about his Nord Lead 2 virtual analog synthesizer (by Clavia); we also shook a few other hands and handed out a few more figurative pads on the back. I am usually pretty good with names, but, between some of the musicians' British accents and my own transitory deafness due to our seats' close proximity to the stage, well, all I could capture while shaking hands was a mangled bunch of phonemes which could not possibly be parsed into a memorable proper name. Later on, once it became clear that the Man himself would not be gracing us with his presence, we decided to head for the exit door. Trouble was, we could not see an exit door. So off we went into the labyrinth of hallways that constitute the backstage, looking for an exit door, just as fate and the white-blue light of the Icing On The Cake gods converged upon us once more, and we merged into the traffic of Mr. Clapton and two of his assistants just before the backstage exit door. Hoping for some eye contact, or perhaps even a hand-shake from Mr. Clapton, I called out somewhat in the blind "great concert, Mr. Clapton", to which he replied, in a most characteristically British way, and without as much as a slight turn of the neck, "thenk-ewe", just as the backstage door opened exposing into view a small contingency of awaiting fans. Mr. Clapton dashed for his limousine with the preciseness of a professional airplane pilot, as my wife and I turned left headed for the now-empty parkade a few blocks away. All in all, it was a fun and ritzy musical evening. The rock-n-roll was groovy; the musicianship was cunning; the venue could have done without the standing sound wave. We regret having missed most of Bonnie Raitt's set. We regret having missed Sarah McLachlan's moonlight appearance. And we wish that Eric Clapton would have uttered more than a mere "thenk-ewe" between medleys to a very warm Vancouver audience; a little dialogue would have gone a long way. And, of course, I am personally sorry that I missed you, Jill, but I got to see (and walk out the backstage door with) the guitar legend himself. It was in the cards. Fate is the hunter. The Lord works in mysterious ways. And, as always, thank you, Max. This is Bill the wagill guy coming to you from crispy Bellingham, Washington. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 16:47:12 -0700 From: "Bill" Subject: ERRATA: LONG POST: Eric and Bonnie (and Sarah too) [...] I can only compare such virtuoso singing with the work of Clare Torry in Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon". ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 22:11:28 EDT From: DaveRaver@aol.com Subject: Museum of Television & Radio?? I called the Museum of Television & Radio (New York City) and inquired as to whether Happy Rhodes was actually performing there on October 8. They knew nothing about it. I had a feeling it didn't sound right. How did this rumor get started anyway? ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 21:38:47 -0500 From: "Culebra" Subject: Re: ecto-digest V4 #313 No need to mention names here, but I'm always amused when someone has "listened to an album many times", but isn't really sure of the name of the album, or the songs on it. "J", it's "Ashes to Ashes", but very different from the David Bowie version, which is of course the sequel to "Space Oddity"...sort of like forgetting that Michael Jackson wrote "Billy Jean"...would that we could, but life is cruel. No one is saying that you should have feeling for songs if you just don't feel it, but it doesn't sound like you are very familiar with the music of Happy Rhodes. I guess if you want warm fuzzies, you'll have to get out your Master P a-a-abblums. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 23:15:34 -0400 From: Joseph Zitt Subject: Re: a different view on Happy Joanna M. Phillips wrote: > If you are talking about singers who sing in an emotional *way*, then to me > that often means performers who sacrifice musicality and understandability > for some kind of vocal flailing around that I don't really appreciate. For that matter, what constitutes "emotional" singing is somewhat culturally determined. My father cannot hear the emotion in gospel or R&B music, or most rock: all he hears is screeching. I'm the same way about almost all opera. When I want to hear emotion in singing I'll go for Happy, or some Jane, or some Mariah Carey (!), or October Project. But on the other hand, I know that what I'm listening for is not necessarily the singer's actual emotion but that of the song. (After all, a singer of pop songs is effectively an actor -- otherwise, someone who is herself in a good mood would be incapable of effectively singing, say, "Without You" or "Alone Again, Naturally" (oy, am I dating myself).) - -- - ---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------- |||/ Joseph Zitt ===== jzitt@humansystems.com ===== Human Systems \||| ||/ Maryland? = <*> SILENCE: The John Cage Mailing List <*> = ecto \|| |/ http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt ====== Comma: Voices of New Music \| ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 09 Sep 1998 23:30:36 -0400 From: Joseph Zitt Subject: Re: Happy Then and Now Chris Sampson wrote: > > I've listened to MWABT a few times now and have to admit that, while it > IS technically very tight and rich, I'm missing some of the emotional > impact of, say, Warpaint (and some of the grit, too). I think one factor here may be that the subject matter of the songs on MWABT are somewhat more distanced than the ones on Warpaint, with the focus on the science fictional and more general topics. Similarly, I find BtC to be a more "emotional" album than Equipoise, with, again, the more personal focus in it (by which I mean it's easier to see how songs like If I Ever See the Girl Again and Just Like Tivoli might directly relate to someone living Happy's day-to-day life than how He Will Come or The Flight might) (but on the other hand, each album has songs that go against these trends, such as I Say and Down, Down). (Anyone attempting to diagram that sentence would probably hurt himself trying...) - -- - ---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------1---------- |||/ Joseph Zitt ===== jzitt@humansystems.com ===== Human Systems \||| ||/ Maryland? = <*> SILENCE: The John Cage Mailing List <*> = ecto \|| |/ http://www.realtime.net/~jzitt ====== Comma: Voices of New Music \| ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 20:46:58 -0700 (PDT) From: Old Spice Subject: Happy Happy Joy Joy OK. I've read all the posts on this subject, and I'd planned to cut and paste and edit and merge and _synthesize_ a response to every point that's been raised, but then I thought: screw it. Who's paying me to do this? Nobody. So strictly off the cuff, from the hip, outta my hat: Thank the gods for Joyce, y'know? Every time _I_ try to stir things up on a moribund Ecto, I feel like I've used a snow shovel to turn a crepe; awakened a sleeping child with a nuclear Sousa band. Joyce can, with entire ingenuousness, stimulate our conversational fluids without really ruffling any flight feathers. I nominate Joyce for the most levelheaded muckraker on Ecto! Second? Ennyway. I entirely agree with Joyce. To a point. So OK, not quite entirely. Vickie: what did I say to you when you first played Happy's stuff for me, way back in what, the thirties or something? I thanked you, if I remember right, for the opportunity to be reawakened to a new musical discovery: Kate; then awe; then overplay; then complacency. Then what: similar reawakenings with Jane, with M2OH, with (though, for me, short-lived) Tori, with Jeff, with Peter, with Ingrid, etc., and then, thanks to you, Vickie, with Happy. Blew me away. Scoured clean my pop-sludged intake valves. A new adventure I couldn't wait to embark on. But. Yes, to a certain degree--especially the earlier stuff--coldish and, maybe even, sterile. A worshipful offering to the gods of music as math: frequencies of tone meshing with frequencies of tone to synergize a tone--a tone, a tone, a tone-- Bach was cold and sterile. Is. But in his cold and sterile language he painted pictures of god. Happy's technical proficiency--her eerie perfection; her nearly inhuman cleanliness of musical line and melody--has its place in the scope of my musico-emotional needs. Sometimes I can't listen to Bach: anal bees arguing over how many angels can square dance on the head of a pin. But sometimes noting else will do. As with Happy. Sometimes her ground-zero of musical perfection is the clean slate from which I must start. Lord knows, some days nothing but PJHarvey or Geraldine Fibbers will do. But sometimes, Happy fits like a cold latex glove squeezing my innards like an overdue cardiac arrest. --charley Jane defense (grrrrr) to come later. Sleep now; sleep. _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1998 21:50:58 -0700 (PDT) From: "J." Wermont Subject: to culebra > No need to mention names here, but I'm always amused when someone has > "listened to an album many times", but isn't really sure of the name of > the album, or the songs on it. In fact I have listened to that album many times, but it's been a number of years since I last heard it. Wish my memory was a good as it used to be (or as perfect as yours apparently is) but it was simply a genuine mistake. Anyway, why do you care one way or another, even if I was exaggerating how many times I've heard it? Does the number of times one hears music (or their ability to remember titles) make any difference in the validity of their opinion? How many times would the average person on this list have to listen to a "death metal" album to know they didn't like it? (Just an educated guess that most of us here wouldn't like that... :)) > I guess if > you want warm fuzzies, you'll have to get out your Master P a-a-abblums. What does this mean? I don't know who/what Master Pabblums is, and your comment about "warm fuzzies" sounds a bit sarcastic. Sounds like you're saying that my desire for some warmth and passion in music is a desire for pablum. If so, I'd find that pretty insulting. We're just talking about taste here. Joyce ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 07:34:53 +0200 From: "Klaus Kluge" Subject: Ectoparty in Dortmund, Germany Announcement - Ectoparty in Dortmund, Germany Celebrating the release and tour of "Many worlds are born tonight", an ectoparty will be held in Dortmund, Germany on October 18th. It was about time, wasn't it? We've already invited the usual suspects directly, but everyone else is invited as well. If you are interested to join us, please contact us at klaus.kluge@gmx.de for details. There'll be a party webpage, which hopefully will be updated throughout the day, located at: http://www.smoe.org/klaus/ep98/ If someone would be able and willing to provide us with a tape (audio or video) of the current tour, please let us know. Keep on listening... ...Klaus & Claudia ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1998 07:34:53 +0200 From: "Klaus Kluge" Subject: update Another little update. Our local favourites, "Your Finest Drops", are no more. We can consider ourself luckly to have seen them in their last concert... musically the best they have ever done. A pity. But I got a message, telling me that the singer has already joined a new band (yet unnamed). It will take them several months before they have created a repertoire and a tour might be possible. Vickie, I remember you were looking forward for the day when Bobo would get rid of those white wooden houses. Looks like your wishes are coming true... her new band is named Alaska, with an album scheduled for next year. No further details yet. A couple of weeks ago, three ectophiles met in Mainz to see Noa. She played some songs from a forthcoming album, but I hope they don't turn out so Celine Dion'ish on the recording. Did I (or someone else) mention that two of the concerts on the last Rainbirds tour had been taped, and there are plans to release a Live album later this year? T'was about time! I finally got my hands on Ingrid Karklins' latest. Very nice packaging and music... once I found out how to get to the CD. :) Most frequently played albums of the last months have been Garbage V2.0, followed by Morcheeba's "Big Calm" and "Siren" from Heather Nova. Most frequently played song: Happy singing "Mercy Street", the PG cover from the Project Lo release. Pure bliss! Many worlds haven't yet been born in Germany, but I managed to have one sent to me. First impression: nice packaging ;) although reading small black letters on gold isn't very friendly to the eye (but this can be said about the basic CD booklet format). As to the music... it's such a complex album, that it's impossible to judge from only a few spins, although a "less can be more" jumps to mind and tongue... er... fingers. The similarities to some previous songs, as already been mentioned in Terra Incognita, are quite obvious. So, I do need some more listens, some with headphones, before I can make up my mind. Keep on listening... ...Klaus ------------------------------ End of ecto-digest V4 #314 **************************